Tack-puller.



.I. T. LANCASTER.

TACK PULLER.

APPLICATION 11120 JULY 11-. 1911.

Patented May 28,1918.

;; all, ii

JOHN T. LANCASTER, 0E HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, Assrenon To HAMEL SHoE MACHINERY COMPANY, or HAVERHILL, MA SAC USETT A conronATIon or MASSACHUSETTS.

TAcK-rU LEn.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, J OHN T. LANCASTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Haverhill, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tack-Pullers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has for its object a new and improved rotary tack puller for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes and partic ularly for removing so-called sole tacks which are used to secure the insole of a boot or shoe to the last temporarily, these tacks being ordinarily fully driven so that the head of the tack rests on the insole or is closely adjacent thereto. As is well understood by those skilled in the art, the rotary tack pullers which are employed for the purpose of removing lasting tacks, these tacks being only partly driven and having .the heads at a considerable distance from the surface of the boot or shoe, will not operate successfully to remove sole tacks. Rotary sole tack pullers as heretofore constructed have tended to cripple or bend over the tack so that the working edge of the tack puller can not get hold of it. When this occurs the operator is likely to hold the shoe against the tack puller more firmly in the effort to remove the tack with the result that the blades of the tack puller dig into the surface of the insole and do injury to it. The rotary tack puller hereinafter described removes the sole tacks from boots and shoes even when fully driven and does not cripple or bend the tacks enough to prevent their being pulled out. The result is that the operator can work much more rapidly and the danger of injury to boots and shoes is reduced to a minimum.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features thereof will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a tack puller embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tack puller shown in Fig. 1.

Having reference to the drawings, at 11 is shown a disk secured to a shaft 12 adapted Specification of Letters latent.

Patented May. 28, 191%.

Application filed July 11, 1917. Serial No. 179,960.

to be rotated at the proper speed. This disk is slotted as shown at 13, said slots being tangent to a circle about the axis of rotation. This circle is of a diameter smaller than the diameter of the periphery of the disk. In the drawings, I have shown two slots, but it will be understood that I do not limit myself to this number. In each of the slots lo cated a tack pulling blade 14 secured in place in any convenient manner as for in stance by the screws 15 which compress the portions a 12 against the blades. The blades 14 are preferably beveled as shown at c and are made double-ended. In front of each slot within which is received the blade is a cut away portion d which affords a space into which the head of the tack drops. This enables the tack extracting blade to get under the head of the tack. Behind each blade and immediately adjacent to it, is a roughened surface e. This roughened surface is conveniently a Series of sharp ribs as shown in the drawings, but I do not limit myself to this construction as any other form of roughening, such as nurling, or even a single projection which will enable the surface of the disk to get a grip on the surface of the shoe is sufficient. In the claims, I have referred to this as a roughened surface and intend thereby to claim any irregularity of the peripheral surface at this point, whether formed integral or not which will get a grip on the surface of the shoe.

The operation of my improved tack puller is as follows: The disk rotates rapidly and the sole of the shoe is presented to the edge of the tack puller. The operator holds the shoe firmly against it. When the cut away portion 0? comes around, the head of the tack drops into it and the blade then engages the tack. As the tack puller rotates further, the roughened portion 6 contacts with the surface of the insole and tends to carry the shoe along with it tangentially but at the same time the edge of the blade is moving away from the insole and pulling out the tack. About the time the tack has been pulled out of the shoe, the smooth portion of the periphery comes against the shoe and the tendency to feed the shoe along ceases.

I find by comparison of the operation of tack pullers made with and without the roughened surface just described that when a tack puller having an entirely smooth periphery is employed, but otherwise as de-' scribed, the tacks are frequently bent and crippled so that they are missed altogether unless the shoe is pressed against the tack puller hard enough to gouge into the sole; When the tack puller is provided with the roughened surface as described a very large percentage of the tacks come out perfectly or nearly straight and it is not necessary to press the shoe against the tack puller hard enough to do injury to the insole.

What. I claim is:

1".- The improved sole tack puller comprising a' rotary disk provided: with one or more tangential slots, and a tack pulling blade secured in said'slot with its edge projecting; slightly beyond the periphery of the disk, the periphery of said disk being substantiallyunbroken except for a cut away portion immediately in: front of the said blade; a

f2. Lhe improved sole tack puller comprising a rotary disk provided with one or more tangential slots, and a tack pulling blade secured in said slot withitsedge projecting slightly beyond the periphery of the disk, the periphery of said disk being of a' width as great as the length of the edge of the b1ade, and being substantially unbroken except for a" cut away portion immediately in front of. the'saidblade, whereby a, supportingsurface is formed behind the blade while free access to its edgeis alforded in front,

3. The improved tack puller comprising a disk having a slot arranged tangential to' a circle formed about the axis of rotation, a tack pulling. blade secured in said slot t'here'being a cut away portion in the periphry of the disk just in front of the tack pulling blade, and a roughened surface'immediately behind the tack pulling blade.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN T. LANCASTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five-cents each; by addressing the Commissioner of Patents;

Washington; I). G. 

